Two 'Scapes' for the price of one!

I've created a little tradition for our 'first day back at school' day (which I mentioned earlier this week). I usually decorate the kitchen or set the table and have a special 'treat' for Kristen. The first year I actually baked a cake, but since then I've taken the easy way out and bought something that I think Kristen will love. This year I found the perfect little cake at the grocery store and I set the table ready for when Kristen got home. . . .

I found this cute little guy in Walmart's bakery. It was actually just two cupcakes underneath all that frosting! Kristen loves dogs as most of you know, so she was thrilled when she saw this.

From supplies I bought at the dollar store a few weeks ago, I set the table. . . .

The supplies I got from the $ store were, this chalk board, a blue plastic table cloth, yellow napkins, red paper plates, green school border (which I cut up to make napkin rings also), and silk flowers.


The Crayola thermos and food tub were given to Kristen from my neighbor just a few weeks ago.

I used my red chargers underneath our white dinner plates.

Kristen and I enjoyed sitting at the table sharing cake and talking about her first day back. I hope she remembers these times with fondness. For dinner I set a third place setting for 'Daddy' and we all ate our favorite family meal, spaghetti with meatballs, and garlic bread.

I have another little tablescape to show you this week. I've been trying to encourage Kristen to try new foods. Over the summer I allowed her to eat what she wanted (you know the usual kid stuff like canned spaghetti, or mac and cheese) then I cooked a separate dinner for me and Jason. I told Kristen that had to stop once we got back to school. I was only going to cook one meal and we would all eat as a family during the week. We are lucky that Jason gets home from work usually at the same time each day, and we can have dinner around 5.30-6pm.

To make dinner easy Kristen and I thought up a system...
Monday = Italian (so I will cook spaghetti or carbonara, or some other pasta type dish)
Tuesday = Mexican (she will actually eat Tacos!)
Wednesday = Chinese
Thursday = 'a storage meal' (where I use cans and other stuff I have in the freezer)
Friday = 'Wild Card' (as Kristen named it, it will probably be pizza or some other 'quick fix' meal)
Saturday= bbq on the grill (hot dogs, burgers or ribs perhaps - while the weather permits)
Sunday = crock pot meal (so I have something ready to eat when we get home from church).
Now, I don't know how well I'll stick to this plan, but this week I've done pretty good. So here's the other tablescape I set on Tuesday when we ate Mexican food.



I didn't spend a penny on this one! All the plates are decorative (I used them as chargers and served dinner on our usual white plates) and I simply added my margarita glasses. Notice the blue table cloth from Monday's table ;-)

I know what you're thinking.... "I have too much time on my hands"! Well, not really, I just like making the effort to make meal times fun :-)

And just for the record, Kristen is still hesitant to try some of the meals. The rule is, she should try it and if she doesn't like it, then there will be wholewheat bread on the table and she can butter herself as many slices as she wants to fill her up!! There is usually at least something on the plate she likes, like rice tonight when we had chinese, and fresh fruit like grapes or pears, so she's only had to have one slice of bread so far this week ;-)

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures, and I apologize that this post got so long!